Caution when walking the wilds of Ireland

Sceala Clann T.D. Location: Wicklow

Last year there was a somewhat heated discussion ..and debate on this subject.
Suggestions were made that hiking or hill walking in Ireland ...even climbing Ireland's highest mountain ..were easy ...trivial ...fun adventures.
Hopefully some good will come from this local tragedy ...the premature death of someone who was an experienced Irish walker. A caution to not ever take the wilds of Ireland lightly.

Tragic hiker rang wife from hillside
By Allison Bray
Monday March 24 2008
Tragic hill walker Walter Hammond spoke with his wife just hours before he went missing while hiking in the Wicklow Mountains on Thursday.
The 71-year-old media lecturer, from Blessington, Co Wicklow, rang his wife on his mobile phone from the Black Hill area of the Wicklow Mountains on Thursday, to say that the weather was turning bad and he would be home later that evening. His wife Margaret then raised the alarm when he didn't return.

His body was found at about 3pm on Saturday following a massive search.
A post-mortem examination will be conducted tomorrow to determine the cause of death.
The father of three, who worked as a lecturer in media studies at Ballyfermot College, was an avid hillwalker who knew the route well in the Black Hill and Mullaghcleevaun areas of the mountain, said Dublin-Wicklow Mountain Rescue spokesman Gerry Condon.
"The route he took was the same one he took every month and he was very familiar with it and a very experienced walker," he said.
But weather conditions were very poor on Thursday, with bitterly cold wind and rain, and it's possible that he may have succumbed to exposure, he said.
"No matter how experienced you are, the elements of nature can catch up with you," he said.
Mr Condon was among more than 130 people who spent two days combing the mountains for the missing walker. His body was found by a couple in the search party.

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Caution when walking the wilds of Ireland